Page 68 of Whiskey and Whispers
“I can’t believe this is all happening,” Leo said when Tate approached. “I still can’t believe he’s gone.”
“I keep waiting for him to walk in here and tell us all it was just some crazy joke,” Shelly said. “A stupid prank. But that’s not going to happen, is it?”
Shelly’s eyes glittered with tears, and she sniffled into a handkerchief that she pulled from her purse.
“Everybody will be here,” Leo said, placing an arm around his wife. “Marnie and Lindsey sent a text that they’re parking the car, and Winnie and Glen are out back while she takes a client call.”
“Can’t she stop selling houses for one day?” Shelly asked angrily. “Talk about no respect for the dead.”
“Her client doesn’t care that someone died,” Leo said, his tone gentle. “Today is any other day to them.”
“She has an assistant,” Shelly pressed. “She could have handed them off for just a few hours, but heaven forbid she miss a commission. She’ll probably corner Cat about buying a house when she gets here. Just no class. Speaking of Cat, where is she? She didn’t come with you?”
It was interesting that the entire town had concluded that he and Cat were back together. It was true, of course, but no one was even questioning it, as if it had been some sort of foregone conclusion.
“She said she had an errand to do this morning, and she would meet me here,” Tate explained, tugging at his collar again.He fucking hated wearing a tie. “I’m sure she’ll be here any moment.”
“Josh and Rachel are coming,” Leo said. “Larry and Diane. Keith and Tracy. After the service, we’re all to go over to the Arnolds, who are having the wake at their house since the Eckerds are in the middle of renovating theirs. They’re a close friend of the Eckerds.”
“Josh is coming?” Tate questioned. “Is he in any shape to do that?”
“He said nothing would keep him away,” Shelly replied. “Rachel told me that the doctor will make sure that Josh is able to attend.”
That statement could mean a few things. One of them was that Josh would be highly medicated when he showed up.
Winnie and Glen walked back inside, along with Marnie and Lindsey. To Tate’s surprise, Tyler’s mom and dad were right behind them.
“Tate, can we speak with you for a moment?” his mother asked.
Alice Eckerd was dressed in a black dress and a single strand of pearls, which she was currently clutching as she made her request. Darren Eckerd, dressed in a somber black suit, stood unsmiling at her side but not speaking.
“Of course, what can I do for you?”
He held his breath, hoping they weren’t going to ask him at the last minute to make some remarks about Tyler. Tate wasn’t terrible at public speaking, but he wasn’t great at anything off the cuff. He liked to be prepared.
“Can we step into the hall?” Alice asked, her gaze darting to the others. “It will only take a moment.”
He couldn’t say no to two grieving parents if they asked him for a favor. He followed them out to the end of the hallway,walking past people who were still milling around waiting for the beginning of the service.
“We have a favor to ask you,” Alice said, glancing at her husband before continuing. “I will be honest with you. We understand if you don’t want to do it, and we wouldn’t blame you.”
Darren cleared his throat a few times, shoving his hands into his pants pockets.
“Tyler’s lost luggage showed up at the house this morning,” he explained. “We simply cannot deal with that right now. Is there any way you or someone in the friend group can open it and deal with the contents? Otherwise, it will sit there until we can emotionally deal with it, which could be a very long time in the future. We wouldn’t ask, but Tyler’s girlfriend asked for a blue cashmere sweater she gave him last year for Christmas. She wants it as a keepsake now that he’s gone. It must be in his luggage, although we’re not sure about giving it back. She’s also asking for some photos from his phone. He only mentioned Alexa a few times, and we can’t be sure they were really all that close, but what are we going to do with a sweater? And she only wants copies of the pictures. It seems pretty harmless.”
“She swears they were planning to be married,” Alice said, leaning in toward Tate. “Tyler never told us any such thing, so we’re taking that with a grain of salt. Maybe they talked about it, maybe they didn’t. We can’t know for sure, of course.”
“Would one of you be willing?” Darren asked. “We have the suitcase from the airline, and the sheriff delivered Tyler’s clothes, wallet, and cellphones. I assume a young person knows those things. Finn suggested asking the clerk at the phone store, but we didn’t feel right having a stranger go through Tyler’s phones. We know that you’re not the type to gossip about anything you see.”
In a college town, Tate didn’t consider himself all that young, but Darren easily had thirty years on him.
“Cellphones? Plural?” Tate queried.
“He had two,” Alice explained. “We assume one was for work and one was personal.”
“That makes sense,” Tate agreed. “And of course, I’ll help you out. I’ll look through his things personally.”
One last favor for his buddy Tyler. It was the least and the last thing he could do for his friend.
